Income Taxation of Fiduciaries and Beneficiaries.

During the more than two decades during which I have been lecturing on the income taxation of estates, trusts and beneficiaries at various estate planning conferences and tax courses, there has been one question often posed by audience members that I was unable to answer satisfactorily: "Can you recommend a really good, up-to-date, authoritative and, at the same time, really practical text on fiduciary income taxes?" The day has finally arrived when I can unhesitatingly answer affirmatively, as that much needed treatise has just been published.

The volume, authored by Byrle Abbin of Arthur Andersen, LLP, Washington D.C., and two of his partners, Dave Carlson, Arthur Andersen, LLP, Sarasota, Fla., and Mark Vorsatz, Arthur Andersen, LLP, San Francisco, Cal., completely fills the bill. It is up-to-date (current through Mar. 20, 1995), truly complete, covering in depth not only the basic rules, but also many esoteric areas on which we have received little if any guidance from the Treasury or the IRS (such as, for example, the impact of the passive activity loss limitations on estates and trusts). And while no tax treatise can possibly answer every question in a particular area of expertise, this book supplies the solutions to the vast majority.

Further, the authors' approach is eminently practical and "user-friendly." Technical text analysis of the often complex governing rules for all the different types of estates and trusts (as set forth in the Code, regulations, rulings and court decisions) is kept to an appropriate minimum and a plethora of examples are given (I counted more than 250). In addition, one chapter, which contains 27 comprehensive illustrative case studies covering the most salient aspects of fiduciary income taxation, is complete with filled-in tax return forms and schedules for each case study. This chapter alone covers almost 300 pages. Finally, the volume contains not only what must be thousands of footnotes, but also excellent tables of citations to cases, Code sections, regulations and rulings, as well as a comprehensive index.

Without reservation, I highly recommend this text to all CPAs, lawyers, corporate trust personnel and others who practice in this relatively unchartered income tax area. A copy must be in the library of all such persons. In my opinion, no other existing treatise on the income taxation of estates, trusts and beneficiaries can compare--it is unquestionably the ne plus ultra.

Bernard Barnett, CPA, Senior Consultant, BDO Seidman, LLP, New York, N.Y., has reviewed Income Taxation of Fiduciaries and Beneficiaries, by Byrle M. Abbin, David K. Carlson and Mark L. Vorsatz, Little, Brown and Company, 1995 (922 pages, $125).